Poetry a criticism of life under the conditions fixed for such a criticism by the laws of poetic truth and poetic beauty. – Matthew Arnold
People think that I can teach them style. What stuff it all is. Have something to say and say it as clearly as you can. That is the only secret of style. – Matthew Arnold
Protestantism has the method of Jesus with His secret too much left out of mind; Catholicism has His secret with His method too much left out of mind; neither has His unerring balance, His intuition, His sweet reasonableness. But both have hold of a great truth, and get from it a great power. – Matthew Arnold
Our society distributes itself into Barbarians, Philistines and Populace; and America is just ourselves with the Barbarians quite left out, and the Populace nearly. – Matthew Arnold